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After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive
On the morning of May 25, 1979, six-year-old Etan Patz left his apartment to go to his school bus stop. It was the first time he walked the two short blocks on his own.
But he never made it to school that day. He vanished somewhere between his home and the bus stop, and was never seen again.
The search for Etan quickly consumed the downtown Manhattan neighborhood where his family lived. Soon afterward, "Missing" posters with Etan's smiling face blanketed the city, followed by media coverage that turned Etan's disappearance into a national story - one that would change our cultural landscape forever.
Thirty years later, May 25 is recognized as National Missing Children's Day, in Etan's honor. But despite the overwhelming publicity his case received, the public knows only a fraction of what happened. That's because the story of Etan Patz is more than a heartbreaking mystery. It is also the story of the men, women, and children who were touched by his life in the months and years after he vanished. It's the story of the agonies and triumphs of the Patz family. It's the story of the extraordinary twists and turns of federal prosecutor Stuart GraBois's relentless pursuit of his prime suspect.
From GraBois's creative "outside the box" tactics, to the veteran cop who made his first pedophile bust on a dark Times Square rooftop, to the FBI rookie who cut her teeth chasing the case through the dark recesses of a child molester's mind, this is the story of all the heroic investigators who to this day, thirty years later, continue to seek justice for Etan.
In After Etan, author Lisa Cohen draws on hundreds of interviews and nearly twenty years of research - including access to the personal files of the Patz family - to reveal for the first time the entire dramatic tale.
But he never made it to school that day. He vanished somewhere between his home and the bus stop, and was never seen again.
The search for Etan quickly consumed the downtown Manhattan neighborhood where his family lived. Soon afterward, "Missing" posters with Etan's smiling face blanketed the city, followed by media coverage that turned Etan's disappearance into a national story - one that would change our cultural landscape forever.
Thirty years later, May 25 is recognized as National Missing Children's Day, in Etan's honor. But despite the overwhelming publicity his case received, the public knows only a fraction of what happened. That's because the story of Etan Patz is more than a heartbreaking mystery. It is also the story of the men, women, and children who were touched by his life in the months and years after he vanished. It's the story of the agonies and triumphs of the Patz family. It's the story of the extraordinary twists and turns of federal prosecutor Stuart GraBois's relentless pursuit of his prime suspect.
From GraBois's creative "outside the box" tactics, to the veteran cop who made his first pedophile bust on a dark Times Square rooftop, to the FBI rookie who cut her teeth chasing the case through the dark recesses of a child molester's mind, this is the story of all the heroic investigators who to this day, thirty years later, continue to seek justice for Etan.
In After Etan, author Lisa Cohen draws on hundreds of interviews and nearly twenty years of research - including access to the personal files of the Patz family - to reveal for the first time the entire dramatic tale.
379 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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1016 people want to read
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November 8, 2009
The tragedy that is the legacy of poor Etan Patz, of course, is the public awareness of a burgeoning problem - missing and exploited children. Every May 25th is known in the United States as National Missing Children's Day, and has been since 1983 - four years to the day when six-year-old Etan Patz vanished on his way to school from the two-block span between his New York home and the bus stop, all within a ten-minute time frame.
He was wearing his "Future Flight Captain" hat.
In this day, it seems inconceivable that a mother would allow a child of such tender age to traverse even the shortest distances alone. Back in 1979, though, the world seemed somewhat less cruel - one in which many people felt significantly more secure (and felt far less vulnerable) with regards to their children's safety. Missing children simply were not in the news for one reason or another: either the child has chosen to seek out a new life on his/her own, or a disgruntled parent would spirit the child away rather than lose custody during a bitter divorce. Or, sadly enough, the media just did not see the missing child to be of newsworthy caliber.
Etan Patz changed all of that. "For many," explains author Lisa R. Cohen, "Etan's disappearance represents the day a nation's innocence was lost." After Etan, the nation had begun to see the photos of missing children on milk cartons, the formulation of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children , and newer, less-trusting eyes when it came to seemingly innocuous strangers. Etan Patz came before Adam Walsh (bringing about "Code ADAM," called whenever a child is reported missing in a department store, to put the store into lockdown while staff searches for the child), Amber Hagerman (whose abduction inspired the infamous "AMBER Alert" system to make a population aware that a child has been reported missing), and Megan Kanka (tragically heralding in "Megan's Law," the system in place designed to make a public aware of the whereabouts of discharged sex offenders).
When Etan Patz went missing, the world began to look at itself through different, warier eyes.
After Etan focuses exclusively on the case of Etan Patz, and the turmoil inflicted upon his family during its thirty-year aftermath. As their son was never found - nor was there ever a definitive answer as to what may have happened to him on that day - the Patz's remain at the same address that they did when Etan was taken away. To move away from the painful memories (or even to change their phone number to eliminate the bulk of the harassing phone calls) was never in consideration; Etan knew those things, after all.
As heartbreaking as the story remains to this day, the case was never formally solved. Enter Jose Antonio Ramos. Ramos is currently serving time in a state prison for having committed atrocious acts against minor boys. Ramos is also under intense suspicion for the disappearance of Etan. Unlike the majority of other leads in the case, Ramos not only has a direct involvement with the case (his then-girlfriend was the same woman who walked Etan to school during the New York City bus strike of 1979). At one point, during an interview with Federal prosecutor Stuart GraBois, the incarcerated Ramos admitted to having taken a boy very much like Etan ("I'm 90 percent sure it was Etan," stated Ramos) to his apartment for the purpose of molestation. Later, Ramos went on to deny this stated certainty, going so far as to state that the boy he referred to was "older than Etan," and that he let the boy go after he had expressed no interest in the vile acts Ramos had wanted him to participate in.
Ramos still claims his innocence in the case. Many others reject this, including Stan Patz himself. "Now I know what this man did," he told the press after the civil trial, "And he should not be allowed to get away with it."
Though extensively researched and fluidly written, After Etan is not without its flaws. At one point (presumably working with pseudonyms to protect the identity of minor children who were abused by Ramos), Cohen transposes a name during a recreation of a dialogue between an abused child and law enforcement. (Hopefully the name accidentally used was not the victim's actual name.) Too, Cohen chooses to relate several incidental anecdotes to orchestrate Ramos' guilt (the tale, for instance, of how Ramos allegedly attempted to lure the downstairs neighbour's son and daughter into his apartment by literally "fishing" for them with toys on a string dangled outside the children's window - unlikely at best, since Ramos' chosen prey was not of the female variety, nor does it seem practical to attempt to lure children in such an unorthodox way.).
Also, in several passages, Cohen seems to delight in throwing eggs at the United States legal system by highlighting statements made by GraBois (and others) expressing their hopes that Ramos would opt not to exercise his Miranda rights, nor have an attorney present during his interviews. Though Ramos' crimes were perhaps amongst the most heinous imaginable - the systematic and repeated abuse of innocent children - the molestation of a child is a far cry from the murder of a child (although thousands of perpetrators have crossed over into that realm, there remains no actual proof nor admission of guilt from Ramos that he himself has become a child murderer). The suspicion falls onto him because of his past crimes, the information passed on by Federal informants (whose credibility have been grossly inflated, bolstered merely by the reiteration of known facts about the Patz case, as well as the provision of graphic details allegedly offered to them by Ramos himself), and the fact that Ramos simply cannot seem to keep any of his stories straight. Circumstantial evidence, though considered damning by many, cannot portend to hold the solution to the decades-old case.
(That said, the world is definitely a safer place with Ramos behind bars, since it is clear that his patterns of child abuse are beyond his control. It is imperative, however, that the justice system be allowed to do its work properly. Jose Antonio Ramos could conceivably – perhaps even likely - be the sole cause of Etan's complete disappearance. But there is no absolute evidence to prove this, and so it remains possible that another responsible party remains scot free out there somewhere.)
After Etan is a true-crime book with a heart. The reader is sampled to the tiniest fraction of the frustration investigators went through, following lead after dead-end lead, from New York to Israel. While no one can actually say that he or she knows exactly what those people must have felt at that time, there is no denying the very real sense of disappointment and wrenching despair instilled within the reader by following along what sounds like a promise of an answer, only to find one's self abandoned by that hope.
Though Etan Patz has been declared legally dead (as of 2001), and all hope has seemed to leave the case standing alone, Stan Patz – Etan's father – finds his way to the mailbox outside his home to drop a single page in the mail to Jose Ramos every year, on May 25th. It is yellowed a copy of Etan's memorable MISSING poster, with a line typed across the back: What did you do to my little boy?
He was wearing his "Future Flight Captain" hat.
In this day, it seems inconceivable that a mother would allow a child of such tender age to traverse even the shortest distances alone. Back in 1979, though, the world seemed somewhat less cruel - one in which many people felt significantly more secure (and felt far less vulnerable) with regards to their children's safety. Missing children simply were not in the news for one reason or another: either the child has chosen to seek out a new life on his/her own, or a disgruntled parent would spirit the child away rather than lose custody during a bitter divorce. Or, sadly enough, the media just did not see the missing child to be of newsworthy caliber.
Etan Patz changed all of that. "For many," explains author Lisa R. Cohen, "Etan's disappearance represents the day a nation's innocence was lost." After Etan, the nation had begun to see the photos of missing children on milk cartons, the formulation of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children , and newer, less-trusting eyes when it came to seemingly innocuous strangers. Etan Patz came before Adam Walsh (bringing about "Code ADAM," called whenever a child is reported missing in a department store, to put the store into lockdown while staff searches for the child), Amber Hagerman (whose abduction inspired the infamous "AMBER Alert" system to make a population aware that a child has been reported missing), and Megan Kanka (tragically heralding in "Megan's Law," the system in place designed to make a public aware of the whereabouts of discharged sex offenders).
When Etan Patz went missing, the world began to look at itself through different, warier eyes.
After Etan focuses exclusively on the case of Etan Patz, and the turmoil inflicted upon his family during its thirty-year aftermath. As their son was never found - nor was there ever a definitive answer as to what may have happened to him on that day - the Patz's remain at the same address that they did when Etan was taken away. To move away from the painful memories (or even to change their phone number to eliminate the bulk of the harassing phone calls) was never in consideration; Etan knew those things, after all.
As heartbreaking as the story remains to this day, the case was never formally solved. Enter Jose Antonio Ramos. Ramos is currently serving time in a state prison for having committed atrocious acts against minor boys. Ramos is also under intense suspicion for the disappearance of Etan. Unlike the majority of other leads in the case, Ramos not only has a direct involvement with the case (his then-girlfriend was the same woman who walked Etan to school during the New York City bus strike of 1979). At one point, during an interview with Federal prosecutor Stuart GraBois, the incarcerated Ramos admitted to having taken a boy very much like Etan ("I'm 90 percent sure it was Etan," stated Ramos) to his apartment for the purpose of molestation. Later, Ramos went on to deny this stated certainty, going so far as to state that the boy he referred to was "older than Etan," and that he let the boy go after he had expressed no interest in the vile acts Ramos had wanted him to participate in.
Ramos still claims his innocence in the case. Many others reject this, including Stan Patz himself. "Now I know what this man did," he told the press after the civil trial, "And he should not be allowed to get away with it."
Though extensively researched and fluidly written, After Etan is not without its flaws. At one point (presumably working with pseudonyms to protect the identity of minor children who were abused by Ramos), Cohen transposes a name during a recreation of a dialogue between an abused child and law enforcement. (Hopefully the name accidentally used was not the victim's actual name.) Too, Cohen chooses to relate several incidental anecdotes to orchestrate Ramos' guilt (the tale, for instance, of how Ramos allegedly attempted to lure the downstairs neighbour's son and daughter into his apartment by literally "fishing" for them with toys on a string dangled outside the children's window - unlikely at best, since Ramos' chosen prey was not of the female variety, nor does it seem practical to attempt to lure children in such an unorthodox way.).
Also, in several passages, Cohen seems to delight in throwing eggs at the United States legal system by highlighting statements made by GraBois (and others) expressing their hopes that Ramos would opt not to exercise his Miranda rights, nor have an attorney present during his interviews. Though Ramos' crimes were perhaps amongst the most heinous imaginable - the systematic and repeated abuse of innocent children - the molestation of a child is a far cry from the murder of a child (although thousands of perpetrators have crossed over into that realm, there remains no actual proof nor admission of guilt from Ramos that he himself has become a child murderer). The suspicion falls onto him because of his past crimes, the information passed on by Federal informants (whose credibility have been grossly inflated, bolstered merely by the reiteration of known facts about the Patz case, as well as the provision of graphic details allegedly offered to them by Ramos himself), and the fact that Ramos simply cannot seem to keep any of his stories straight. Circumstantial evidence, though considered damning by many, cannot portend to hold the solution to the decades-old case.
(That said, the world is definitely a safer place with Ramos behind bars, since it is clear that his patterns of child abuse are beyond his control. It is imperative, however, that the justice system be allowed to do its work properly. Jose Antonio Ramos could conceivably – perhaps even likely - be the sole cause of Etan's complete disappearance. But there is no absolute evidence to prove this, and so it remains possible that another responsible party remains scot free out there somewhere.)
After Etan is a true-crime book with a heart. The reader is sampled to the tiniest fraction of the frustration investigators went through, following lead after dead-end lead, from New York to Israel. While no one can actually say that he or she knows exactly what those people must have felt at that time, there is no denying the very real sense of disappointment and wrenching despair instilled within the reader by following along what sounds like a promise of an answer, only to find one's self abandoned by that hope.
Though Etan Patz has been declared legally dead (as of 2001), and all hope has seemed to leave the case standing alone, Stan Patz – Etan's father – finds his way to the mailbox outside his home to drop a single page in the mail to Jose Ramos every year, on May 25th. It is yellowed a copy of Etan's memorable MISSING poster, with a line typed across the back: What did you do to my little boy?
May 30, 2009
Reporter Lisa Cohen, who's been covering the Etan Patz disappearance for years now, has put together a very impressive account of the investigation with all its twists and turns. Though the book covers thirty years, the story never drags, and I stayed up and sacrificed precious sleep to get through it, although I knew already how it ended -- or didn't end, as it were. Etan Patz has never been found and the prime suspect in his disappearance, a thoroughly creepy pedophile named Jose Antonio Ramos, has never been charged in his case.
The first half of the book mainly focuses on the pain of Etan's parents, Stan and Julie, and their struggle to keep their own sanity and provide a normal life for their two remaining children. It's a very rare and intimate window into how a family copes with having a missing child. Stan and Julie aren't sure how to answer when a stranger asks them how many children they have. Etan's younger brother was very afraid to turn six, because Etan was six when he disappeared. Tipsters, well-wishers and cranks phoned the Patz home at all hours and Stan kept a log of every single call, just in case one of them lead to his son's whereabouts. Julie was remonstrated by strangers when they recognized her on the street: they accused her of negligence for letting Etan walk to the bus stop alone the day he was abducted, and flat-out told her that his disappearance was all her fault.
The second half of the story focuses more on Jose Antonio Ramos and the quest by a dedicated federal prosecutor, Stuart GraBois, to bring Ramos to justice for the crimes he's committed against children. Largely through his efforts, Ramos was sent to prison for twenty years for an unrelated child molestation charge, but he's not going to stay in there forever. GraBois continues to lobby for charges in Etan's case, and I hope this book will spur that effort along. He is the real hero in this story, a tireless advocate not only for Etan but for other children Ramos violated. Using actual dialogue from transcripts and recordings, Cohen makes you feel like you're actually in the room with Ramos and GraBois as they talk about Etan and Ramos makes a "90% confession."
This is a must-read for those interested in the Patz case and the phenomenon of missing children in general. Though it's 400 pages, it felt like a much shorter book to me. The details and the snappy journalistic writing style moved it along. I don't think it could have been any better written.
The first half of the book mainly focuses on the pain of Etan's parents, Stan and Julie, and their struggle to keep their own sanity and provide a normal life for their two remaining children. It's a very rare and intimate window into how a family copes with having a missing child. Stan and Julie aren't sure how to answer when a stranger asks them how many children they have. Etan's younger brother was very afraid to turn six, because Etan was six when he disappeared. Tipsters, well-wishers and cranks phoned the Patz home at all hours and Stan kept a log of every single call, just in case one of them lead to his son's whereabouts. Julie was remonstrated by strangers when they recognized her on the street: they accused her of negligence for letting Etan walk to the bus stop alone the day he was abducted, and flat-out told her that his disappearance was all her fault.
The second half of the story focuses more on Jose Antonio Ramos and the quest by a dedicated federal prosecutor, Stuart GraBois, to bring Ramos to justice for the crimes he's committed against children. Largely through his efforts, Ramos was sent to prison for twenty years for an unrelated child molestation charge, but he's not going to stay in there forever. GraBois continues to lobby for charges in Etan's case, and I hope this book will spur that effort along. He is the real hero in this story, a tireless advocate not only for Etan but for other children Ramos violated. Using actual dialogue from transcripts and recordings, Cohen makes you feel like you're actually in the room with Ramos and GraBois as they talk about Etan and Ramos makes a "90% confession."
This is a must-read for those interested in the Patz case and the phenomenon of missing children in general. Though it's 400 pages, it felt like a much shorter book to me. The details and the snappy journalistic writing style moved it along. I don't think it could have been any better written.
April 10, 2019
I feel a little heartless to say a book about a 6-year-old boy who was abducted 40 years was pretty dull, but.... and I dont think this is a spoiler but scroll down if you must....
The boy has never been found and the person they think did it has never confessed so I didnt feel there was any closure at the end of the book. There is really no biographical information any of the people in the book. It dwells on what little evidence they have and how the parents dwelt with the kidnapping. It just didnt move along fast enough for me and I didnt feel I got to know any of the people.
The boy has never been found and the person they think did it has never confessed so I didnt feel there was any closure at the end of the book. There is really no biographical information any of the people in the book. It dwells on what little evidence they have and how the parents dwelt with the kidnapping. It just didnt move along fast enough for me and I didnt feel I got to know any of the people.
January 23, 2012
I'm putting this book down without finishing it, which is unusual for me. The author is painfully talentless.
July 24, 2009
Etan Patz is taken from his home in New York in 1979, and the search for Etan will change the way that missing children are handled. Etan's disappearance and the attempts to bring him home are long and entailed from the beginning to what can be conceived as a resolution. The portion involving his family falls by the wayside it seems when GraBois' investigation begins to take shape. It would have been nice to tie the family back in, but the fact that the family is trying to get past the kidnapping might have made that impossible. GraBois portrayal is interesting in that it doesn't try to make him a character by making him entirely likeable and in turn he feels very real. The prime suspect Jose Antonio Ramos is scary and it somehow feels wrong to give him so much attention since it sometimes appears attention is what he wants.
August 4, 2013
this was a bit long winded for me
May 25, 2021
Since the book ended before the conclusion of the case, here it is: https://web.archive.org/web/201704190...
I’m shocked. The civil case found Ramos guilty. Hernandez is schizophrenic, and delusions of sin are a symptom. Jim Clemente likened his confession to Carr’s confession to killing JonBenet Ramsey. There seemed to be no motive or evidence, and this article also gives neither. Hernandez said he placed Etan in a box, strangled but still alive, on a curb with the trash. Everyone tore that street apart! That’s impossible . I absolutely think Jose Ramos did it.
I’m shocked. The civil case found Ramos guilty. Hernandez is schizophrenic, and delusions of sin are a symptom. Jim Clemente likened his confession to Carr’s confession to killing JonBenet Ramsey. There seemed to be no motive or evidence, and this article also gives neither. Hernandez said he placed Etan in a box, strangled but still alive, on a curb with the trash. Everyone tore that street apart! That’s impossible . I absolutely think Jose Ramos did it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 10, 2017
I was living in NYC when Etan Patz went missing, so I was interested in seeing what the author had to say. It was hard going, because the amount of detail (enough to fill 360 pages) was tedious. I can understand this at the beginning of the story, but the tedium didn't lift. I gave up after 120 pages. I'll read Wikepedia to find out/remember what happened in the end.
July 26, 2017
Brilliantly written account of this family's tragedy. No thrill-seeking style of journalism, just the facts and the many twists and turns that this case has made. I'm surprised that it isn't more well known as it is up there with the very best of the true crime genre.
July 9, 2022
I had trouble finishing this one because it seemed to be loaded with extraneous information, while shortchanging areas of high interest. Then again, I'm not a part of the case, so I probably don't grasp what is actually extraneous.
September 19, 2025
The story of Etan breaks my heart, and not knowing the killer made it even harder (though I believe Ramos did it). I liked the book, but I wish some chapters weren’t included—especially the ones about other cases and characters, as well as those about Ramos’s history.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 3, 2018
I was impressed by the dedicated efforts to get to the bottom of this case. And it helped me understand the change between the childhoods of my grandchildren and mine in the 1950's.
Currently reading
November 4, 2020wasn't engaging. Didn't get very far
March 18, 2017
Well written and extensive research into a heartbreaking account.
May 12, 2012
Adam Walsh, Polly Klass, Megan Kanka, Amber Hagerman, names that will strike terror into any parents heart. Names that when heard make you hold your kids closer and look at strangers harder. Names that now equal unbelievable heartache. Before those children though there was Etan Patz. Etan would have been only 6 months older than me had he lived. I grew up hearing the story of his abduction. When a basement of a former friend was recently dug up to search for his body I hoped that at last the case would be solved for his parents. Sadly it was not to be be and apparently the one person who does know what happened is too mentally ill or evil to tell.
This book does an excellent job detailing the abduction and aftermath of Etan Patz from his NY Soho neighborhood in the 70's. Having grown up in the 70's there was so much I could identify with this story. There were also many painful moments that made this book at times difficult to read. When I got to the passage where Reve Walsh the mother of Adam is sitting at a table with Julie Patz, Etan's mom and she gets the call that her little boy's body has been found, it was so emotionally written that I had to put the book down. Equally heartbreaking is the picture Stan Patz, Etan's dad sends twice a year to the man he believes killed his son. On it are the words what did you do to my little boy?
Thanks to Julie and Stan Patz and all of the parents of the murdered children listed above, the kids of today are safer. There are now alerts, and centers, and all kinds of help that were not available when those children were taken. I recently read a statistic that said 99% of abducted children are found and returned. Sadly that does nothing for the Patz's and wish with all my heart that they could have a final resolution to their case. John Ramsey, Jon Benet's father said in his book that as awful as having his daughter murdered was at least he found her. Even he couldn't imagine the anguish of never knowing where your child's final resting place is.
This author did justice to Etan's story. It was clear that she was very emotionally involved in the case. This book is transcended from a quickly crafted true crime story written for thrills into something that is closer to literature like Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. It's the story of how an urban oasis can go to hell in the span of the time it takes one child to walk a block to the school bus. The real life heroes and villian in this story are so richly portrayed that you will keep thinking of Etan's story long after you have finished the last page.
This book does an excellent job detailing the abduction and aftermath of Etan Patz from his NY Soho neighborhood in the 70's. Having grown up in the 70's there was so much I could identify with this story. There were also many painful moments that made this book at times difficult to read. When I got to the passage where Reve Walsh the mother of Adam is sitting at a table with Julie Patz, Etan's mom and she gets the call that her little boy's body has been found, it was so emotionally written that I had to put the book down. Equally heartbreaking is the picture Stan Patz, Etan's dad sends twice a year to the man he believes killed his son. On it are the words what did you do to my little boy?
Thanks to Julie and Stan Patz and all of the parents of the murdered children listed above, the kids of today are safer. There are now alerts, and centers, and all kinds of help that were not available when those children were taken. I recently read a statistic that said 99% of abducted children are found and returned. Sadly that does nothing for the Patz's and wish with all my heart that they could have a final resolution to their case. John Ramsey, Jon Benet's father said in his book that as awful as having his daughter murdered was at least he found her. Even he couldn't imagine the anguish of never knowing where your child's final resting place is.
This author did justice to Etan's story. It was clear that she was very emotionally involved in the case. This book is transcended from a quickly crafted true crime story written for thrills into something that is closer to literature like Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. It's the story of how an urban oasis can go to hell in the span of the time it takes one child to walk a block to the school bus. The real life heroes and villian in this story are so richly portrayed that you will keep thinking of Etan's story long after you have finished the last page.
June 12, 2009
This is Lisa Cohen's first book. I'm not sure she's quite found her way around writing prose, as sometimes it seems like she was borrowing styles from a number of other writers. Her use of metaphor and simile was sometimes startling and sometimes almost embarrassing.
BUT she is a wonderful storyteller. The way she wove the story was impeccable even if the language left a bit to be desired. She was there for a majority of these events, and her extensive research on the bits she missed was obviously thorough. It's a moving, saddening and scary story, but one that really celebrates the heroes, both those in the spotlight like the Patzes and the unsung heroes like the police officers and volunteer who spent tireless hours looking for the six-year-old boy who was stolen from his bus stop in 1979.
It's the first cohesive account of the events surrounding the Etan Patz tragedy. The details are vivid and the history is astonishing. I hadn't known about the case until I read about this book in The New York Times. Now I understand the importance and the fascination with this case.
It's sometimes difficult to get through, only because of the subject matter. But it's certainly a page-turner, albeit a depressing one. Still, she stresses the good that came from Etan's martyrdom, and the strength of Julie and Stan Patz, utlilizing their tragedy for the benefit of other children.
Brava, Lisa Cohen!
BUT she is a wonderful storyteller. The way she wove the story was impeccable even if the language left a bit to be desired. She was there for a majority of these events, and her extensive research on the bits she missed was obviously thorough. It's a moving, saddening and scary story, but one that really celebrates the heroes, both those in the spotlight like the Patzes and the unsung heroes like the police officers and volunteer who spent tireless hours looking for the six-year-old boy who was stolen from his bus stop in 1979.
It's the first cohesive account of the events surrounding the Etan Patz tragedy. The details are vivid and the history is astonishing. I hadn't known about the case until I read about this book in The New York Times. Now I understand the importance and the fascination with this case.
It's sometimes difficult to get through, only because of the subject matter. But it's certainly a page-turner, albeit a depressing one. Still, she stresses the good that came from Etan's martyrdom, and the strength of Julie and Stan Patz, utlilizing their tragedy for the benefit of other children.
Brava, Lisa Cohen!
Read
December 10, 2010The case of Etan Patz, a young boy who leaves home to catch the bus for school in May 1979 and disappears. Forever. Cohen exhaustively unravels every thread of the police/legal investigation into what happened to Etan. There is a grim fascination in this trail and Cohen tells it well. As with all such true crime books one is glad for the end. The author goes into exquisite detail of DA GraBois' attempt to catch pedophile Jose Ramos-presumably the man who abducted and killed Etan- in a confession. This goes on for years. Yet Cohen never questions what the real value of this confession would mean. Would it be believable? Ramos was capable of enormous deception. This legal obsession with extracting confessions shows how legal teams following their noses can go so badly wrong.
July 14, 2011
Excellent. Lisa R. Cohen clearly did extensive research on the Etan Patz case. This was thorough yet concise, she left no stone unturned in her telling of this little boy's story. Heartbreaking, but such is the nature of true crime, so I knew that going into it. My heart goes out to his family. I have to say Ramos made me sick to my stomach, child molestors incite so much rage in me, they are the lowest scum on the earth. I'm grateful he was at least put in jail for his other crimes against children, but it is still infuriating that there is not enough evidence to definitively convict him for what he did to Etan. I hope that something can be done before he is released in 2014 so that he does not prey upon any more children.
RIP Etan.
RIP Etan.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2013
A gripping account of what it is like to investigate the disappearance of a child. For more than 30 years, people have searched for answers to what happened to Etan Patz during the one block walk that separated him from his mother and the safety of the bus stop where surely other kids were waiting for the school bus that day. Cohen's ability to thread the story, rich with detailed information about the realities of how law enforcement work the system to come up with leads, is compelling. If you can steal yourself against the pain of Etan's family during the first few chapters, this true story will grip you in the details and let you work through the pain alongside everyone involved in the case.
December 11, 2012
This is a very compelling and well written novel that chronicles the case of missing six-year old Etan Patz (it happened in 1979 so I don't remember the case but it apparently touched many lives). Though at times very disturbing in detail since it does involve a known sex offender and at other times infruating at seeing the justice system fail right before your eyes, it does give a more hopeful and positive message about what this family did to ensure a better system of recovery and how with help from friend John Walsh (America's Most Wanted) they forever changed the way abduction cases are handled.
July 8, 2016
reading the story of Etan Patz was a sad example of how messed up some people can be, the fact that his body has never been found is awful and i cant imagine how his parents must feel. It does seem right that the goverment named may 25 national missing child day in honor of Etan. I cant imagine being raped by creep than being killed by him and my parents never being able to find my body.
Although good job to the police who didnt drop his case in over 30 years and putting that monster behind bars for what he did to Etan and alot of other little boys.
Rest In Peace Etan you will always be remembered in our hearts
Although good job to the police who didnt drop his case in over 30 years and putting that monster behind bars for what he did to Etan and alot of other little boys.
Rest In Peace Etan you will always be remembered in our hearts
September 3, 2009
A thorough and chilling and suspenseful book about a horrible event. Cohen keeps the narrative going in a compelling fashion within letting herself get bogged down in what at one point she calls the "ick" factor of her subject matter. She celebrates the heroes of the book (Etan's parents, federal prosecutor Stuart GraBois) rather than sensationalizing the perpetrator. Another reviewer put it much better than I could--I don't know about Cohen's writing style, per se, but--perhaps based on her many years as a producer--she is an excellent storyteller.
July 6, 2009
Interesting account of the Etan Patz case from 1979. A little boy disappeared on his way to the school bus stop in NYC. This case brought the issue of missing and kidnapped children to national awareness. I was living and teaching in the city at the time and not long after this case, one of the students in my school also disappeared; his body was found not long after while that of Etan was never found. Engrossing depiction of the case, and it brought back memories of the city's reaction to the issue. Very good book.
November 23, 2009
One of those books which confirms that truth is stranger than fiction. What a very sad story of a beautiful little boy who was abducted the first time ever that he walked to the school bus stop alone. The obvious murderer is so sleezy and crafty that he still to this day has not admitted his crime. The greatest emotion I felt throughout was extreme empathy for the parents and their eternal suffering due to their loss.
At times, the details might have gotten a little confusing, and it seems like we got to the end of the tale and stayed there a little too long before all was concluded.
At times, the details might have gotten a little confusing, and it seems like we got to the end of the tale and stayed there a little too long before all was concluded.
March 19, 2013
To say this is a page turner is an understatement. I finished this book in two days, I could not put it down. As a lawyer, all the legal twists and turns were very interesting. But more than that, as a child of the 70's I wondered how this missing child may have affected my life and the way my parents treated me. Very well written and a lot of detail about the story, the characters, the aftermath and how this one missing child was the catalyst for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as well as an awareness that danger lurks even in our own backyard.
May 30, 2016
I was really looking forward to reading this but I found the book to be too long. It was too much about Jose Ramos and the case against him for what he did in PA. I think I would have appreciated the book more if maybe only a chapter or two was about the PA case. But it seems liked over half the book was about this one case.
Would have liked it more if it was more about how the family dealt with this tragedy and what came from that. Like the Center for Missing children and the interaction they had with Adam Walsh's family.
Would have liked it more if it was more about how the family dealt with this tragedy and what came from that. Like the Center for Missing children and the interaction they had with Adam Walsh's family.
November 5, 2016
I read this book a few years ago because was always interested about this child abduction case because it hit very close to home. At the time my family still lived in New York City (Brooklyn) where I was born and raised. It frightened my parents and the parents of many children alike. It changed the innocence of walking to school by yourself or playing outside with your friends and made parents vigilant. I found the book well written with facts about the case and suspects that I did not know about before.
May 21, 2009
'True crime' is not the type of book that normally interests me, but this particular book caught my attention because I distinctly remember the fliers with Etan's cute face on them plastered everywhere in New York City in 1979 when I went there to visit for the first time.
And now that I have read this book, I wouldn't consider it to be 'true crime.' It is so much more than that. For me, it was a real page-turner and a book that I hated to have to put down.
And now that I have read this book, I wouldn't consider it to be 'true crime.' It is so much more than that. For me, it was a real page-turner and a book that I hated to have to put down.
September 10, 2016
Though there have been some recent developments in this case, including a new suspect and a trial, there are still so many unanswered questions about this tragedy. Through it all, I keep thinking how awful it is that Etan is no longer with us--that this poor, innocent boy lost his life to a monster. This book was hard to read, and very emotional to process, but it is and remains an excellent book.
January 22, 2010
Truly compelling and an easy though unsettling read. I learned a lot about how public consciousness about missing children has changed. I need to find some good non-fiction about the Atlanta Child Murders, I think. They were referenced here and I read a lot about them when reading These Bones Are Not My Child but I'd like to see more from the ground.
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